Overhauling a Shimano Freehub - Y3B980000 Shimano Freehub Grease
 

I'm working inside of a shimano freehub body and noticed that there is another type of grease used in there. Very thin in consistency, almost like a light jelly. I think the stuff in question is pictured below (Y3B980000). Anyone ever work with this stuff? Price is up there. I think I'll throw in Lubriplate MAG-1. It is a very light grease a well, not quite as light as what was in there but good enough and I have a cartridge of that already.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...576f6b73e6.jpg

Not sure what you are seeing inside the hub body. Could be liquid lube mixed with bearing grease or even grease from the pawls and springs. In any event, if you can’t find specific instructions for servicing your particular free hub, here’s a link to Park Tools guide for Shimano freehubs.

https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair...reehub-service

Good luck!

My spare (NOS) Shimano freehub bodies are packed with a very light grease. Makes sense -- you want something that will stay put, but isn't too thick. And you don't want the thing crammed full of it.

Grease can cause the pawls to stick down and therefore not fully engage the teeth. Pawls break more easily then and/or the freehub can slip forwards, if at the wrong moment this is bad. medium/thick oil is what most of the shop wrenches (I've worked with) will use. Andy

I used to just mix some motor oil with grease until it was just thick enough not to drip. Worked perfect in Shimano Freehub Bodies. You want as thin as possible but not too thin where it oozes through the seals in warm weather hence the non-dripping viscosity. Since I started using Chain-L chain lube I just use that instead and works great if you happen to have some already.

pretty sure a well know rebuilder @PastorBobninh uses super lube synthetic grease which is like 5 or 6 bucks for 3 ounces. It seems pretty available. (and for a bit more he uses Finish line extreme fluoro grease)

I got a hub from him and it is smooth

I have dribbled phils tenacious into old noisy hubs with good results, but that is not a rebuild

Leanord Zinn recommend adding a spring to a shimano freehub body so you could use a Freehub Buddy to pump grease into one. I have rebuilt mine with a fabricated piano wire spring and use Lubriplate EMB grease in my freehub bodies. I pump in fresh grease and it forces out the old. They are sluggish for a few hundred miles and then smooth out.

same, perfect viscosity for the majority of freehub pawls

Thanks for the input fellas. Andy, I didn't get into pawl territory (don't have the two prong removal tool, yet). I only removed the body off the hub, popped the rubber seal & inverted the bearings into shallow solvent (just enough for them to wick some up). Cleaned them, repeated the procedure until satisfactory for this time around. Any slight solvent remnant will help with lubrication in this case considering grease is used and not a liquid lube, I'd imagine. After I obtain or borrow the two pronger tool, I'll re-do the process more thoroughly. The hub I was working on is an MH-510, which I've found to be completely parts compatible with an MC18 (both shimano). I might just perform a parts donor surgery. The MC18 (which seems in better condition than the other) is a bare hub but the MH510 is laced up to a Sun Rhino Lite which I want to use asap.

If there is less of a Rockefeller-esque budget Shimano lube to use then I'm all ears.

You'll never get back the time spent, so I hope it was worth it.

Unfortunately none of us get back time spent but in this instance it was worth it. It was the first time I'd taken one apart and the experience was a good one. Surprisingly simple process too. For a winter bike I'm going to take the freehub apart and lube the pawls with an ultra thin lubricant so they behave properly at -20c. Some have even used kerosene as pawl lube for their dedicated winter bikes I've heard.

Sometimes the satisfaction of taking something apart and making it better is reward enough. Who cares whether it impresses the grumpy trolls of the Internet. :thumb:

SRAM Butter (light fork stanchion grease) works good too... as does Chain-L and Phil Wood Tenacious oil.